{"id":481150,"date":"2026-02-17T17:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/481150\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:39:09","slug":"fabio-fognini-still-enjoying-the-spotlight-from-dancing-shoes-to-tenerife-challenger-visit-atp-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/481150\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabio Fognini still enjoying the spotlight, from dancing shoes to Tenerife Challenger visit | ATP Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        Challenger<br \/>\n    Fognini still enjoying the spotlight, from dancing shoes to Tenerife Challenger visit<\/p>\n<p>The Italian played in exho at Tenerife Challenger on Sunday<\/p>\n<p>February 17, 2026<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fognini-tenerifech-2026.jpg\" alt=\"Fabio Fognini at the Tenerife Challenger 2.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sophia Lavrov\/MEF Tennis Events<\/p>\n<p>        Fabio Fognini at the Tenerife Challenger 2.<br \/>\n        By ATP Staff<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/fabio-fognini\/f510\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fabio Fognini<\/a> made a special appearance at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/scores\/archive\/tenerife\/2839\/2026\/results\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tenerife Challenger 2<\/a> this past weekend, sharing smiles and laughs in front of a full crowd while playing in an exhibition match.<\/p>\n<p>The former No. 9 player in PIF ATP Rankings attended Sunday\u2019s final in Tenerife \u2014 won by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/lloyd-harris\/hg86\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lloyd Harris<\/a> \u2014 and took time to reflect on his life since retiring from pro tennis in July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/tournaments\/wimbledon\/540\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wimbledon<\/a>, I took two months completely off on holiday,\u201d Fognini told the Tenerife Challenger media team. \u201cThen I started on \u2018Dancing With The Stars\u2019, so now I\u2019m ready to dance also outside the court,\u201d he added with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p>A nine-time ATP Tour titlist, Fognini used the ATP Challenger circuit as a launchpad in the early days of his career, winning his first title at that level as a 21-year-old in 2008. The Italian also competed in select Challenger tournaments throughout his final three years on Tour. <\/p>\n<p>Fognini spoke highly of the competition at ATP Challenger level, noting the clash between hungry young talent and Tour veterans. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are really tough,\u201d Fognini said of ATP Challenger tournaments. \u201cThere are some young guys who are dreaming to go up the rankings and guys like me \u2014 trying to move up. I dropped a bit, had so many injuries, so fighting with the young guys is difficult. The level is really, really high.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fognini, a fans&#8217; favourite who loved to entertain with his shotmaking ability and off-court flair, announced his retirement at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/tournaments\/wimbledon\/540\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wimbledon<\/a> last year following a five-set first-round loss to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/carlos-alcaraz\/a0e2\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>. The Italian ended his career holding a 426-396 match record, according to the Infosys ATP Win\/Loss Index.<\/p>\n<p>How is Fognini doing since retiring?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you do this sport for 20 \u2014 and maybe more \u2014 years, the first step is missing the competition, I miss [playing],\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t regret anything, so I\u2019m happy to be here.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Challenger Fognini still enjoying the spotlight, from dancing shoes to Tenerife Challenger visit The Italian played in exho&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-481150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}